WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 18, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Wake Forest became the latest NCAA Division 1 university to select FieldTurf when the Demon Decons tabbed the world's No. 1 artificial turf for installation at Groves Stadium. The announcement was jointly made by Wake Forest Athletics Director Ron Wellman and FieldTurf CEO John Gilman.
The new FieldTurf will replace the natural grass that is currently in place at Groves. The Demon Deacon football team will debut their new FieldTurf surface on September 2 when they host Syracuse in the 2006 season opener.
FieldTurf is currently in use in more than 30 NCAA Division 1-A football stadiums including Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Kansas State, Louisville and Missouri. Wake Forest will become the second Atlantic Coast Conference school to play its home football games on FieldTurf (Boston College is the other).
"FieldTurf is an excellent product that is being used by numerous NFL and top college teams," said Wellman. "It will give us consistently good playing conditions in all weather. We installed FieldTurf on one of our practice fields last year and the coaches and players really liked it. The new field, along with structural repairs, electrical and water pressure upgrades, is the next step in renovating Groves Stadium over the next several years."
"Being able to install FieldTurf at Groves Stadium is definitely a feather in our cap," said Gilman. "The ACC is one of the top conferences in all of college football, and we're delighted to be selected by Wake Forest. I know that Ron and Coach (Jim) Grobe spent a lot of time researching this matter, and it's great that we came out on top. I guarantee that the Demon Deacons' players, coaches and fans will be extremely happy with their new FieldTurf field. We're all looking forward to that September 2 home opener against Syracuse."
Groves Stadium opened in 1968 and is widely known as one of the most beautiful football venues in the South. Groves has a capacity of 31,500 and was named for brothers Henry and Earl Groves.
In addition to its growing popularity in the college ranks, FieldTurf has already established itself as the turf of choice in the National Football League. Twenty-three of the NFL's 32 teams currently use FieldTurf at their stadiums and/or their practice facilities. Also, three Major League Baseball teams use FieldTurf at their stadiums.
The NFL Players Association conducted a survey of all NFL players who were asked to rank the league's 32 stadium fields on a variety of factors, such as playability, safety, etc. The NFL players ranked FieldTurf fifth out of 32, and amazingly, NFL players rated FieldTurf ahead of 15 of the league's 19 natural grass fields.
FieldTurf is the result of years of research -- evident in the patented FieldTurf infill mix of silica sand and cryogenic rubber and patented layering process that deliver a system that emulates natural grass. Additional benefits are found in improved player safety, reduced maintenance costs and flexibility for conversion -- allowing stadium managers to quickly change the field from one sport to another or to easily host a variety of sporting events, concerts and other special events directly on top of the FieldTurf surface.
Over the past few years, the quality and performance of FieldTurf's patented system has resulted in over 1800 installations in more than 40 countries. For more information on FieldTurf, please visit www.fieldturf.com or call (800) 724-2969.